Blurb:

Some people might call Avery Babineaux a prick. He’s a hedgehog shifter from an old-money Louisiana family with a penchant for expensive shoes and a reputation for being a judgmental snob. His attitude is why he and his fated mate are estranged. Not that Avery cares. He doesn’t want to be mated to some blue-collar werewolf anyway. Or so he keeps telling himself.

No werewolf likes to be looked down upon, least of all Dylan Green. He doesn’t need a mate, especially not some snotty hedgehog who sneers at his custom motorcycle shop and calls him a grease monkey. But when Avery gets into trouble with a shady loan shark, Dylan can’t stand by and let him be hurt—whether he wants the brat or not.

Yet once Dylan steps into Avery’s world, he realizes there’s more to Avery than his prickly exterior, and that unexpected vulnerability calls to Dylan’s protective instincts. The sassy little hedgehog needs a keeper, and despite their horrible first impressions, Dylan starts to believe he might be the wolf for the job.

My View:

Avery Babineaux is prickly both in human and animal form. He is consumed with social status and worries only about how he looks. I’m not sure why a hedgehog would up sticks and move to an area populated with wolves when he has such disdain for them but move he does and then lives with the irony of knowing his true mate is a wolf, a wolf that owns his own business and is covered in grease all the time. That will never do!

Dylan Green is gruff and growly. He works hard, has a close knit group of friends who he trusts with his life and fears ending up in a mated relationship like his parents more than anything else in the world. A little baffled and a lot hurt after meeting his true mate 2 years ago he stays away from Avery as much as possible. When they do run in to each other Dylan pretends to be unaffected but he can’t help wonder what if.

A bad tip, an even worse bet and daddy’s failure to provide the bail out money leaves Avery in a world of trouble and Dylan feeling compelled to help. The situation finally brings the two men together but it is a slow process, hampered by secrets and Dylan’s overwhelming fear of Avery getting into any further trouble.

The good thing to come out of Avery’s mess is that the young hedgehog finally has to grow up and stand on his own two feet. He has to get a job and with the help of the pack he starts delivering meals to the elderly wolves. He friends one in particular, Otis, whose daughter has been missing for months and everyone seems to have given up on. Without really having any idea of what he is doing Avery starts investigating, putting himself in sight of a lot of a nasty people, which just increases Dylan’s need to keep him safe therefore meaning more secrets and slowing their relationship down even further.

When they do finally get together they are hot and there is knotting, you have to love a book with knotting, but you do have to wait awhile for it to happen. The main part of the story is more about the mystery than the romance. The ending is left open for their story to continue in book 2 where hopefully some of our questions will get answered and we will get to see Avery and Dylan together more often as they are now mated.

Links

I would like to thank the publisher for providing me with the eARC of this title in exchange for my honest opinion.

Farewell Giveaway
I have a number of paperbacks, most of which are signed, to giveaway. Over the between now (11 Mar 2017) and 31 Mar 2017, every comment on the blog (this post and all other new posts), will be entered to win 1 of these paperbacks. There are also some misc swag items, so there will be a few packs of these to give away as well.

Thank you so much for your support over the last 4 years. Prism will be closing its doors on 1 April 2017. All content will remain available, but no new content will appear after 31 Mar 2017. As such all request forms have been turned off. Again Thank you,